Artificial Intelligence

Lindisfarne Castle: author's own photo

There have always been changes in our world, but when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest, that has changed so much over the years, as viewers over the age of 50? 55? or definitely 60, will be happy to talk about for the next month at least, if you let them. Whatever adjectives you wish to apply to the contest and the performers, the whole thing seems to invite a great many thoughts and questions, and I love questions. Is the Eurovision Song Contest a game-changer?

Game Changers - good and/or bad?

Game-changing can be helpful and 'a good thing' or it can be unhelpful, and, in the long run, 'a bad thing'. Or sometimes, maybe, a bit of both.

What are we to think of Artificial Intelligence? We're already using it, of course, in predictive text, face recognition, spell-checker, giving verbal commands to the TV, or asking Siri a question on our cell-phone. Etcetera.

Game Changers

Generally speaking, I think the world welcomes game-changers, doesn't it? Imagine Marie Curie's delight if she knew how beneficial her pioneering work on radioactivity would be and the progress that would follow. Another flag should be raised for the anonymous genius who invented the wheel. Etcetera. But what about the chap who designed the first gun? The first bomb? They were game-changing for fighting wars, but surely no-one would have guessed where they would take us. 

Here's a definition of AI I found online:

AI is machine-displayed intelligence that simulates human behavior or thinking and can be trained to solve specific problems. AI is a combination of machine learning techniques and deep learning. Types of artificial intelligence models are trained using vast volumes of data and have the ability to make intelligent decisions.

Scary? Yes or No?

A few evenings ago, the BBC News had a feature demonstrating how easy it is for AI to be used for falsifying information. Are we entering a phase where we have to question things we see or hear or read for their truthfulness? 

Were the young performers in the Eurovision Song Contest unknowingly telling us something about today's world? As Christians we have the huge responsibility of carrying an awareness of God's presence beyond the walls of the church. I know perfectly well that so many ACW members already do that. And of course, Christian writers are there at the front line with whatever it is we are creating and offering. How do we follow Jesus' advice to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves?' 

In a recent Writing for Children Zoom meeting, Brendan Conboy spoke inspiringly about the Book Blest festival, and about importance of having a vision for the future. Where will your next piece of writing take your readers? Where do you and I go from here?

In the woodland at Scargill, Yorkshire

ACW weekend, May 2024

(AI alert! My computer started insisting it was Seagull not Scargill!)

 Veronica Bright loves telling stories. As a former reception class teacher in a Cornish village primary school, the best part of the day was gathering the children together and making up all sorts of amazing things. Her pupils probably believed there was an elf living in the cupboard, and that the spider who frequented the sink had the power of speech. They inspired her non-fiction books for collective worship and many of her prize-winning short stories, now self-published in three collections.